If you’re not familiar with longtail drag boat racing, let me introduce to one of the most popular motorsports in Thailand. Long Tail boat races are held regularly in the Thai provinces, many owners and teams travel to compete in the competitions – the winnings are mostly for status symbol and prize money just about covers the cost of the fuel and transport. (video at bottom)
Many of the competitors are owners/workers of the small engineering shops scattered around the provinces that maintain, fabricate and repair farming equipment. Success at the boat races brings more customers to the shop, after all if you can make a 150cc motorcycle engine hammer down a canal at 100mph, then you have a reasonable measure of the shops ability with engines and fabrication. In this particular case, the shop by the name of Taklong Racing fabricated up a nasty diesel motor onto the back-end of their super lightweight boat. Hold on to your life vest.